


riding in (luxury) cars with boys

by Ada_L



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Caitlin Snow (Mentioned) - Freeform, Cisco Ramon (mentioned) - Freeform, F/M, Post-Season/Series 02 AU, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 10:28:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19810408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ada_L/pseuds/Ada_L
Summary: “I’m taking the train to Central City tomorrow.”Felicity takes a moment to congratulate herself, proud of how confident she sounds and not at all like it took her ten minutes to settle on the exact arrangement of the words in that sentence.Post S2 AU oneshot.





	riding in (luxury) cars with boys

**Author's Note:**

> Shaking off the cobwebs, but it was time to set this one free. I’d love to know what you think - but if you don’t like it, please be kind.
> 
> I own nothing.

***

“I’m taking the train to Central City tomorrow.” 

Felicity takes a moment to congratulate herself, proud of how confident she sounds and not at all like it took her ten minutes to settle on the exact arrangement of the words in that sentence.

But then the Foundry goes dead silent, and she’s suddenly aware of three sets of eyes giving her their undivided attention. Well, Oliver’s behind her, but she swears she can feel his gaze boring into the back of her skull.

Digg recovers first, looking over from where he’s paused sparring with Roy to give her an encouraging smile. “Hot date?”

“Something like that,” she admits, cursing the blush she can feel spreading across her face. “Barry asked me to come down for the weekend, and it’s been quiet around here, you know, and I won’t even be that far away. If you need me, I’ll have my tablet-”

“We’ll be fine, Felicity,” comes Oliver’s voice from behind her, and she’s equal parts relieved and annoyed that he seems to have nothing else to say. 

Roy doesn’t say anything, but his gaze flickers between her and something behind her, which she assumes is Oliver. He looks confused, and even though she tries not to read anything into it, maybe a little disappointed?

“Right. Well,” she says, standing up and reaching for her purse when the Foundry lapses back into awkward, weighted silence and she’s dangerously close to saying something else new and particularly mortifying. “I’ll see you in a few days.”

“Have a good time,” Oliver says.

_Do you understand?_

Yeah, she understands, alright.

*********************

Felicity takes the day off work, packs her favorite blue dress and books a hotel that’s walking distance from where Barry’s made dinner reservations.

(Even if she doesn’t have, you know, _expectations_ , she decides it can’t hurt to be prepared.)

Barry’s already waiting inside the restaurant, and when he sees her through the window, gives her a blinding smile. She doesn’t try to stop herself from beaming back at him, because Felicity is absolutely, definitely going to enjoy every moment of this date. 

Felicity is going to _revel_ in the feeling of having a smart, handsome superhero excited to have dinner with her.

Pausing to smooth nonexistent wrinkles from her skirt, she takes a deep breath and reaches for the door.

*********************

Felicity _knows_ she needs to stop grinning like an idiot, but Barry is smart and funny and _bright_ ,and not having time to date is one of the side effects of life in Oliver’s orbit, so it’s the first time she’s gone out with a guy in... she’s not counting anymore, is how long.

It’s everything she could ask for in a first date, and for the first time since she moved to Starling City, Felicity thinks _maybe, maybe_.

But then, when they’re looking over the dessert menu, Barry says “Iris loves the tiramisu,” at the same time Felicity says “Oliver says hi,” and although they both laugh, the spell is broken. 

Because Barry has Iris and Felicity (heaven help her) has Oliver and it’s not _fair_ , both of them being in love with other people, but it’s true all the same.

At the end of the night, Barry walks her back to the hotel and kisses her on the cheek.

It’s fine. 

(She didn’t have any expectations, after all.)

*********************

The next morning, she meets Barry and Caitlin and Cisco at an old airfield and watches her friend run faster than the speed of sound.

Barry is grinning, seemingly unfazed by last night’s disappointment, and at first it stings, that he’s so unaffected - but then again, Felicity figures having superhero powers is probably a pretty good antidote for unrequited love.

So she smiles, too, and it’s fine, it is, because Felicity has spent the past year perfecting the art of pretending that everything is fine _all the time_.

They eat sandwiches for lunch, and afterwards Barry drops her off at the train station. He kisses her on the cheek again and and there’s nothing else to say, really.

She and Barry will never be going on another date.

And that’s fine, too.

*********************

Her train is canceled.

Felicity tries to care about the particulars, tries to absorb the reason that she can’t slink out of Central City to lick her wounds, but she stops listening after _there’s another train scheduled tomorrow morning, miss_ and ends up sinking into an uncomfortable plastic chair, clutching her phone to her chest.

It’s Saturday, and she could stay in Central City another night - had _planned_ to stay a second night. So she knows Barry (her _friend_ Barry) would pick her up from the station. 

She also knows Digg would make the drive from Starling City.

Felicity stares at the floor and does not cry.

*********************

_Oliver knows they’re not doing anything worth staying for at the Foundry on a Saturday afternoon, certainly nothing that warrants he and John spending the day in the basement of a nightclub instead of doing something -_ anything _\- else._

_But Roy’s got it on good authority there’s a new club drug primed to burn through the Glades, and Oliver and Digg have spent the better part of an hour debating the source, even though they both know the conversation is pointless without Felicity. Diggle doesn’t say anything, though, and Oliver’s grateful for it. It makes it easier to keep from dwelling on how much he depends on Felicity’s brilliance._

_Her bravery, too._

_“I’m just saying, man, you can’t cross the street in that neighborhood without coming across a dealer,” Digg is telling him when he’s suddenly interrupted by his phone. He pulls it from his pocket and frowns when he sees the number._

Felicity _, he mouths at Oliver, and turns his back to take the call._

_“Hey, girl,” Digg says, and then listens for a long moment. Oliver can’t make out the words, but he can tell from her tone that Felicity is upset. He frowns - she’s supposed to be in Central City until tomorrow._

_“No,” Diggle finally replies. “No. Sit tight. I’ll be there soon.”_

_Hanging up, he levels Oliver with an unreadable expression. “I’m taking the Bentley,” he says. “Don’t do anything stupid without me here to back you up.”_

_Oliver nods. “I thought Felicity was staying in Central City until tomorrow,” he comments, and congratulates himself on his neutral tone._

_Digg gives him another significant look, this time one of his many don’t-be-an-idiot-Oliver expressions. “I’m taking the car,” he repeats. “I’ll be back tonight.”_

_“And since you’re planning to ignore me, don’t do anything stupid without Roy to back you up,” he tosses over his shoulder as he climbs the stairs._

*********************

Digg gives her a hug when he rolls up in the Bentley, and she presses a cup of coffee into his hands. It’s not much, and it’s certainly far less than he deserves for driving all the way to Central City, but her options were limited.

The answering smile he gives her, though, is genuine, and he drops an affectionate kiss on the top of her head even after he tastes it for the first time. Felicity is embarrassed to find herself blinking back tears - she’d had two cups while pacing the lobby and tracking his progress on her phone, so she _knows_ it’s a particularly terrible cup of train station coffee.

Digg (may his blessings ever increase) busies himself packing her suitcase in the trunk and pretends not to see.

*********************

The ride back to Starling City is quiet. Digg doesn’t ask why she didn’t wait for the next morning’s train, just sips his coffee and hums along to the radio while she stares out the window. 

(She appreciates that about John, how he doesn’t talk just to fill the silence.)

“He won’t say anything,” he tells her once they’re back inside city limits.

“I know,” she says. 

_That’s the problem_ , she thinks.

*********************

Digg’s phone rings, and although she can’t make out the words, she would recognize the timbre of Oliver's voice anywhere. He listens for a few seconds, then glances at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Yeah,” he finally says. “Yeah, I’ll come in.”

He looks weary when he ends the call, and she feels a fresh wave of guilt that so much of his day has been spent fetching her from Central City and ferrying her back home. She opens her mouth to apologize, but Digg waves her off before she can speak. 

“I’ll drop you at home first,” he tells her. “Oliver and I can handle it.”

Felicity doesn’t laugh, but it’s a sacrifice. 

“It’s sweet you think that’s true,” she replies instead, and Digg grins, pointing the car back toward the Glades.

*********************

"Funny thing, Oliver,” John says as they’re coming down the stairs. “I remember telling you to take backup if you were hooding up tonight. But then I see Roy is still working upstairs.”

Oliver looks up from where he’s been pacing. “I got a lead.”

“Did you happen to come across that lead while you were running around the Glades without backup?” 

Oliver opens his mouth, undoubtedly to say something she’ll make him apologize for later, so Felicity cuts him off with a stern look. “Don’t even think about it,” she says. “And if you want me to overlook you choosing to ignore the specific and sensible rules that we have put in place _for your safety_ , you will back away from my computers, please.” 

Oliver blinks at her, but obediently backs up a few steps.

“Told you,” Felicity says, and John laughs.

*********************

Oliver’s lead is unsurprisingly solid, because Oliver is unsurprisingly effective at putting the fear of God into low-level drug dealers, so Felicity’s turned his lead into a name and address in under an hour, and it’s barely another before she’s placing her customary call to Detective Lance with the location of Iron Heights’ newest inmates.

“Come home,” she tells the guys, and then busies herself with some of her searches - her latest is her most promising, she thinks, in solving the mystery of where the seemingly immortal Malcolm Merlyn has disappeared to this time.

Both Oliver and John had told her they were on their way back, so she’s confused when Diggle walks through the door alone.

“He’s a few minutes behind me.” Digg crosses the room and rests a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You want me to stick around?”

“Duh, yes, always,” she jokes, looking up at him. “But no, go home to your beautiful wife. I have taken up too much of your day already. I’ll take a cab home.”

“You didn’t,” Diggle says, tightening his grip on her shoulder. “You know you can always call me, Felicity. You know that.”

Felicity takes a deep breath and gives him her sunniest smile. “I know,” she tells him. “I promise. Now please, go home before I do anything else embarrassing.”

John looks like he wants to say something else, but eventually relents. “Okay,” he says. “Don’t stay too late.”

“I promise,” Felicity says again, and John gives her shoulder another squeeze before turning for the door.

*********************

Felicity only half-registers the door opening again, but she doesn’t miss the pause before Oliver starts down the stairs. Like maybe he thinks she didn’t hear him, like maybe he could leave again without her knowing he’d been there at all.

She _hates it_ , hates this fragile post-Slade harmony, hates how breakable everything between them feels. But then again, she supposes things are never really the same after one friend lies about being in love with the other.

“I didn’t know you’d still be here,” Oliver says when he reaches the last step.

_I was hoping you wouldn’t still be here._

“Yeah, well. You know how I hate mysteries,” she says lightly, and begins to shut down her computers. It’s time to escape, before she can make this day any worse.

“How are you getting home?”

“I’ll take a cab.” She reaches over to shut off a monitor. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’ll drive you.”

Felicity turns around, slowly. “Oliver. I can take a cab.”

“Give me ten minutes,” Oliver says, in a tone that doesn’t really allow for argument.

By the time he emerges from the shower, Felicity is already standing at the bottom of the stairs, hands twisting the strap of her purse. “Are you sure I shouldn’t just call a taxi?”

Oliver pauses in putting on his leather jacket, and there’s something she can’t quite understand in his expression. “If you don’t want -” he starts, “Felicity, if you’re uncomfortable -”

“No!” she interrupts. “No, no, that’s not what -” She sighs, starts over. “Yes, I would appreciate a ride home. Thank you.”

Felicity refuses to surrender to awkward silence again, so she spends most of the trip explaining her latest search to Oliver. It’s safe ground - the only safe ground they have left, she knows - and Oliver’s interest in finding Malcolm Merlyn has only intensified since he found out how close Thea had been to leaving Starling City with him, so it’s enough to last almost all the way to her townhouse.

When they arrive, she’s stopped from opening the door by Oliver’s hand on her arm. She glances at him in surprise. 

“Thank you,” he says, so earnest and sincere it makes her breath catch. “I’m glad you’re back, Felicity.”

Felicity nods, not trusting herself to speak.

_(Maybe,_ she thinks, _maybe.)_

** fin **

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm new, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the way this turned out - the ending gave me trouble for days - but I may add to this if the mood strikes. Apologies for any typos.
> 
> I’d appreciate your feedback.


End file.
